Bruce Bratton hosts University Grapevine, linking local and campus issues, every Tuesday 7:30-8:30 p.m. on KZSC 88.1 fm.
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HOW TO VOTE. There isn't a doubt in my mind that John Kerry is a far superior and smarter person and will be a better president than Bloodthirsty Bush. The same goes for Barbara Boxer for senate, Sam Farr and Anna Eschoo for Congress, John Laird and Simon Salinas for Assembly. I met and talked with Peg Pinard at the County Fair for an hour, she gets my vote for State Senate, so does Joe Simitian. Mark Stone has been and will be an excellent County Supervisor. State ballot measures are trickier. I went to several sources to check my interpretations. NOW and the Sierra Club say No on 1A while John Laird says yes. Besides that and 71 (Stem Cell Research) there was complete agreement with all votes. They are 59 (yes), 60 (yes), 60A (yes), 61(yes), 62(no), 63(yes), 64(no), 65(no), 66(yes), 67(yes), 68(no), 69(no), 70(no), 71(yes), 72(yes).
SANTA CRUZ CITY COUNCIL. It should be no surprise that I support Ed Porter, Emily Reilly, Ryan Coonerty and Tony Madrigal for City Council. I strongly urge you to vote for these people and end Kennedy's ego centered attempt to run the city. I was however surprised that this was such a dull campaign with every candidate playing it so safe. Copying the Sentinel's tradition I want to remind everyone that it wasn't that long ago when Scott Kennedy and Mike Rotkin were caught tearing down opponents' campaign signs and throwing them in the street. They were removing these signs as a favor to landowner Louis Rittenhouse, so they said. That should give you an idea of both Kennedy and Rotkin's idea of fairness.
CITY OF SANTA CRUZ MEASURES. Ed Porter cares a lot about the keeping the city in proper fiscal shape. I asked him (and some other folks about the four other city measures L, M, N, and O. Ed et al agreed vote yes on all four and again, No on J.
COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION. I don't think I've ever agreed with Arnie Levine on anything, but he works hard and gives everything he's got for public schools. His opponent Ward Alksne is one of those charter school supporters. Vote for Levine.
CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT. Ken Wagman would be better than John Wasserburger at being able to keep our schools open. Vote for Wagman.
SANTA CRUZ PORT DISTRICT. Repeating what Dan Haifley said last week vote for Ron Merrall, Bill Lee, and Jim Thoits for commissioners.
ABOUT STEM CELL RESEARCH. I apologized to Alexander Gaugine in my attempt at humor in teasing him for being No on 71 some folks thought I was a mite harsh. Others wrote in saying Gaugine was lying and had other bad things to say about him. Old friend and former County Supervisor Gary Patton wrote a well reasoned letter why he is voting No on 71. It's certainly worth reading. See it in the letters to the editors column. But still Vote Yes on 71.
ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE. Santa Cruz Community TV is doing their very first county-wide election night coverage next Tuesday from 8pm to 11; 30p.m. on channels 26 (Comcast) and 72 (Charter). This will be Geoffrey Dunn's last co-production and he'll be one of the hosts for the evening. Joining him will be Rachel Ann Goodman, Mark Half Moon, John Sandidge, Deanna Zachary and me, your humble servant. Joel Domhoff will add news coverage and polling updates. Candidates have been invited, maybe all of them but the list I got included Farr, McPherson, Laird, Stone, Aguilar, Reilly, Coonerty, Kennedy, Porter, Primack, Madrigal, Ortiz, de la Paz, Rios, and Elerick versus Conklin, plus Tim Morgan or Charlie Friedman. We'll be fair and honest in most cases and in the event that Bloodthirsty Bush wins by hook or crook, we'll plan a finale that will knock your socks off. After that we're all moving to Canada or Trinidad or Cuba. SENTINEL ENDORSES KERRY!!! You could hear the sound of jaws dropping all around the Monterey Bay when people learned that the Santa Cruz Sentinel endorsed John Kerry for president. That's from a Dow Jones paper too. Then again, newspapers all around the country that have endorsed Bush in the past have switched to Kerry. Go to http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000683265. That's Editor and Publisher's website, an excellent website to check out these last few days before Terrifying Tuesday. I called The Sentinel to find out if that was the first time they ever endorsed a Democrat for president, but they didn't pick up or return the call. It might have been nap time or maybe Dow Jones shut them down!
DON'T WIDEN HIGHWAY ONE. Big money from contractors like Graniterock Corporation, Granite Construction, plus labor unions, truck companies, Bob Bosso's law office, Santa Cruz Realtors, and Plantronics and developers are pouring in to do anything to get contracts from widening highway 1. They want those big bucks and we're the ones who'll pay for this scam. Widening freeways has never worked, they get just as jammed and we'll be left with an even longer gridlock. Check out the website http://no-on-j.com. Click on "follow the money" See who is contributing those thousands, not us local voters. There are many workable solutions to our growing traffic problems. Check out that website it has every answer you'll need to make an intelligent vote. Read the list of 16 community organizations that say No on J then read the list of more than 574 local residents that have studied all the pros and cons and say No on J. If that's not enough, watch Paul Elerick and Micah Posner go toe to toe with Jim Conklin the hired flack for the Santa Cruz Business Council who lives in Stockton and Gary Smith, retired fire chief from Aptos and Watsonville on the televised debate on Highway 1. Santa Cruz Community TV will broadcast the debate on Channel 25 Saturday, October 30 at 8p.m. and Monday Nov. 1st at 6pm KUSP FM will also broadcast it on Monday Nov. 1st at 10 am. The debate covers everything, and Elerick and Posner are great at presenting the logical reasoning why widening highway one won't work. Vote No on J.
RIOTS AT THE HYATT. Jerry Hoffman's been creating great nights of fights at the Hyatt in Monterey for years. Romney Dunbar filmed the last fight night and SCCTV will be screening these fights on Nov.8 (8p.m.), Nov.9 (10p.m.), and Nov.15 (8p.m.). They'll be on Comcast 27 and Charter 73. If you look closely you'll probably see Morton Marcus, Richard Bender and I right at the apron seats. There are other Santa Cruzans in the audience but I never reveal names. The next fight night is Saturday November 27 and I'm guessing that it's nearly sold out but call 831 688-1604 to charge tickets by phone.
INTERNET EARTHQUAKE ADVICE SCAM. I fell for that "new" earthquake safety advice and printed it here a few weeks ago. Like so many others, I should have been more suspicious. Go to these two websites and check out the credentials of that Doug Copp who is now being called the 9/11 phony. Here's the site about Copp's fake claims to 9/11 rescue money http://www.abqjournal.com/terror/199912fire07-18-04.htm. Copp was the guy who told us NOT to duck and cover and to and to use "the triangle of life". According to the Red Cross, all the old earthquake safety advice we memorized is still the best advice when the big one hits. This next link is a good link to internet scams in general and that Earthquake scam too. http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/triangle.asp
MOOG IS COMING. Robert Moog the inventor of the synthesizer and the man who made electronic music possible will be at the Rio Thursday night (Oct.28) at 7:30 p.m. Before synthesizers Moog created a kit so we could all build a Theremin. I built one back in 1962 and he's been my hero ever since. There'll be a screening of a documentary titled Moog and we'll get a chance to hear this most unusual man talk about his life and his inventions. Tickets at the door. Or go to www.elsaproductions.com for more details.
LOVE YOUR BODY DAY (AND NIGHT). Ample Annie, Down There Magazine and Santa Cruz County National Organization for Women all worked together and created an absolutely amazing evening last Sunday night at the 418 Project. Kayla Rose did a Vagina Rant, V, the comic had the place in stitches, and live music kept everything rocking. The panel, moderated by Emily Reilly, was like a week of therapy as the participants talked very boldly about their lives and their body issues. Ann Simonton, one of the panelists, told me earlier in the evening that from her point of view women's image in the media today is worse than it was in the 60's and 70's and that the women's reaction to that image is even more "who cares?" . There'll be more Love Your Body celebrations throughout the year because the response was so successful. Contact Stephanie Taylor at Ample Annie 425-3838 or go to the store's website www.ampleannies.com.
LAST MINUTE ELECTION HELP. Bill Malone tells us in an email of a great way to help get the last word out. and I quote him, "Well...only about a week to go!!" Our Peoples Democratic Club meeting is Thursday Oct 28th. Since it is just a few days before the election, the Executive Board thought it appropriate to have "working" meeting. We will meet at Democratic Headquarters (740 Front St #155 Santa Cruz) at 7:30 to do some campaign work--mainly phone calls to help Kerry and Peg Pinard. I urge you get out and help out with this last minute effort. These races are too close for comfort and your efforts may make the difference in our favor. DoorhangerProgressive Coalition...Again this election, the PDC is working with the Progressive Coalition of Santa Cruz County in putting out a local Progressive Voter GuideAKA: "THE Doorhanger". The Coalition consists of PDC, SCAN, SEIU 415, Central Labor Council, GLBT Alliance and CUPE. Through group democratic processes and negotiation we have determined who and what recommendations to put on the doorhanger. Only the P.C. doorhanger will carry the PDC's endorsements on Santa Cruz City Council: Coonerty, Reilly and Porter as well as No on J and Stone for Supervisor. And, of course, Democratic Party candidates and recommendations. The Progressive Coalition is a very grass-roots effort. We need help for two tasks: the labeling the doorhangers and the actual delivery of the doorhangers.
The Labeling task consists of sitting at tables, putting labels on the doorhangers and grouping them by addresses within precincts. It is a great opportunity to socialize with fellow local progressives. The labeling will be done on Saturday and Sunday Oct 30 and 31 from 10 AM ? 4 PM at SEIU Union Hall 517 Mission St, Santa Cruz. It would be great if you can help for a couple of hours or more.
Then Delivery: Good exercise. The delivery task is walking the streets of a precinct and hanging the doorhanger at addresses printed on the doorhanger. Typically, a precinct takes two people about two hours. The delivery will be done from four places in the county: Santa Cruz city, Aptos, Live Oak, and WatsonvilleI'll let you know the locations soon. The delivery will be done from all locations on Monday afternoon starting at 4 PM. Delivery will also be done in Santa Cruz at 5 AM Tuesday morning.
WE NEED VOLUNTEERS! We plan on doing 30,000 doorhangers !! As I said: this is a progressive-community, grass-roots effort. It doesn't work unless we ALL help. I know some folks can't do the walking but everyone can stick labels on the doorhangers. Phone me 420-1133 or reply-email me with what times you can help with either the labeling or the delivery, or both!! Thanks. We are all in this together". That's all from Bill Malone and the PDC.
I (HEART) HUCKABEES. This is another faux modern film that deals with alternate realities, except this is supposed to be a comedy. Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, and especially Mark Wahlberg are wonderful; it's just that the film's director has no concept of comedy or plot.
VERA DRAKE. Abortion was illegal in 1950's London; this is an excellent film about Vera Drake who helped young women in trouble. Imelda Staunton should get an Oscar for this film. It's one of the year's top ten films.
SHALL WE DANCE. Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sarandon do as good an acting job as possible with this Hollywood script. It's a terrible re-make of a very subtle and funny Japanese film. Rent the original, you'll be glad you did.
TEAM AMERICA. This is that puppet (actually marionettes) comedy that makes fun of many pop actors. Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Liv Tyler, George Clooney and even Michael Moore are all depicted and there are a few f* language laughs. But the film gets tired and boring quickly. It was made by the South Park people, so that's the style of humor, if you like that kind of thing.
QUOTES TO GET THROUGH THE ELECTION NIGHT WITH. "Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media." -Noam Chomsky. "Prejudiced people are all alike." -anonymous oxymoron. "A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force." -William Blum. "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Unknown. "To err is Truman." -Walter Winchell. "He who throws mud, loses ground." -Adlai Stevenson. "I like republicans and would trust them with anything in the world except public office." -Adlai Stevenson.
ABOUT TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2004. I'm sure it's occurred to you that here we are, not just waiting for a very scary bunch of election results but we are also a nation waiting to see if our President will 1.attack Iran 2. Come up with Osama Bin Laden (who he's been hiding) or 3. Attack North Korea. All in an immoral attempt to win an election. Something is dreadfully wrong in America, and let's hope we set it right next Tuesday.
HANDY DANDY VOTING GUIDE TO SNEAK INTO THE VOTING BOOTH.
PRESIDENT Kerry, Edwards
US SENATOR Barbara Boxer
US REPRESENTATIVE Sam Farr
STATE SENATOR Joe Simitian
MEMBER STATE ASSEMBLY John Laird
STATE MEASURES
1A Yes
59 Yes
60 Yes
60A Yes
61 Yes
62 No
63 Yes
64 No
65 No
66 Yes
67 Yes
68 No
69 No
70 No
71 Yes
72 Yes
County Board of Education Arnie Levine
Santa Cruz City School Dist. Ken Wagman
Santa Cruz City Council Madrigal, Reilly, Porter, Coonerty
Port District Merrall, Lee, Thoits
County Measures
J No
City Measures
L Yes
M Yes
N Yes
O Yes
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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SANTA CRUZ PORT DISTRICT. Rarely do I feel comfortable when voting for commissioners for our Santa Cruz Port District. We get little coverage about the issues and problems facing our yacht harbor so I asked Dan Haifley for his thoughts and endorsements. Dan, as you know, runs O'Neill's Sea Odyssey Program and has been heavily involved with area politics for decades as well as the harbor's ecology. Here's Dan's answer:
"I'm supporting Bill Lee, Ron Merrall and Jim Thoits. There has been controversy around dredging, and the fact is that the Harbor needs to be kept open but it has to be done in an environmentally responsible way. Also, the Harbor is a government agency with no tax base so how they handle their revenue (boat slip fees and concessions) depends upon the experience and quality of the five people on the Commission. I know the three of them and they can do the job.
The Port District is an odd entity, it's really a public institution, it's our access to the Sanctuary, but financially it has to be on a business model. The three people I'm supporting are business people and they are good at politics and government. And, they believe in the Sanctuary. Thanks for asking, Dan".
DAMNED COAST HOTEL. It's great to see that folks are catching on to the hidden dangers that Mike Rotkin said couldn't possibly cost the City any money and that Scott Kennedy was humping so hard for. Now we are learning the truth, and hard questions are being asked. True construction costs, the fact that conference centers don't make money, and the problem that no one ever dares mention, would you and your conference really rather stay at the new Dream Inn or Chaminade? Let's all chip in and send Kennedy on more out of town vacations until his term is over.
STEM CELL RESEARCH AND ALEX GAUGINE. I figure Alex probably banged his head or forgot his helmet which would explain why he's so nutty on voting no on Prop. 71. Have you read all those organization names that say vote no? Have you ever hear of any of them? Something very odd is going on with this issue. Go with the American Diabetes Association, American Nurses Association, and The California Medical Association and vote yes on Prop 71 and say no to Alex Gaugine.
STAGE BEAUTY. This is a gussied-up film about the last man to play a woman in England's Shakespearean stages (1660) and the first woman to play the role of a woman way back then. Billy Crudup and Claire Danes play the leads and act awfully British, But Danes is 25 and was born in New York City and Crudup is 36 and hails from Manhasset, New York. The film is charming, and sneaks up on you. It's really about sexual identity, theirs and yours. If you liked Shakespeare in Love and want to see Rupert Everett with no holds barred, this is your film.
EXTRA SPECIAL FILMS. I've been slow on reviewing hard to find, foreign language, undistributed films because I've been watching almost all of the 26 films in the Zatoichi film series. All of the films in the category are provided by Cedar Street Video at the corner of Cedar and Maple next to the Bagelry. Speaking of which, yes the free rental deal on Fahrenheit 9/11 that Cedar Street Video offers was and is a big success, all the copies were flying off the shelves. In addition to the Zatoichi films, I urge you to take a look at Luchino Visconti's masterpiece The Leopard starring Burt Lancaster. This is a Criterion Collection DVD which makes it a far superior viewing pleasure to any video tape. Check out Visconti's Ossessione, a 1942 remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice, and it's better than the original. There's little need to tell you about the complete pleasure in watching most of Fellini's creations. Cedar Street has 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, City of Women, La Strada, Amarcord, I Vitelloni, Roma, Satyricon and all I can add to the world's praise of these films is that seeing them again every few years brings out new meanings, and new techniques that Fellini created many years before we caught on to what he was up to. See them again.
LEILA JOSEFOWICZ'S FIRST COMING. Leila J. is a special violinist and UCSC Arts and Lectures is presenting her in her first concert here in their Music Center Recital Hall on Wednesday, November 10 at 8p.m. She'll play works by Olivier Messianen, Beethoven, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mark Grey and Maurice Ravel. Leila J. has played with many of the world's finest orchestras and we are very lucky indeed to have her here. She's won career grants and awards for her recordings on the Phillips Classics label. Get tickets ASAP by calling 459-2159 or go to events.ucsc.edu/artslecs.edu.
RIOT AT THE HYATT. Jerry Hoffman's 12 Sport Productions and The Miller Brewing Company are presenting 6 bouts of boxing at the Hyatt Regency-Monterey Saturday November 27. Carina Moreno now is 5-0, Jeremy Jackson is new with 1-0 he's from Ventura, Salinas Perez brothers Luis and Alejandro will be defending their honor, plus Nonito Donaire from Castro Valley and Sadot Vazquez from Oxnard will be squaring the circle that night. I'm telling all boxing fans about this early because every one of Hoffman's fight cards sells out. Besides that Jerry has a stunning record of creating matches that are exciting, fair, and important to the fighters' careers. Ticket information by calling 688-1604 or by going to www.12sportsonline.com
HAITIAN RELIEF YARDSALE. More than a quarter million Haitians have been devastated by hurricanes and floods. You can help by both donating and buying the rare goodies that can only be found in Santa Cruz County. The yard sale will be Saturday, October 30 from 9am to 3pm at 112 Belvedere Terrace, which is 1/2 block north of Water Street off Branciforte. Call 420-1373 to donate items or to volunteer to help at the sale. It's sponsored by the Haiti Relief Project.
CUBA, KERRY AND BUSH. Both candidates are pitching to the Miami Cubans and as we see, Cuba is growing in media mentions at a scary rate. Isaac Saney wrote a very sensible book about Cuba. Cuba: a Revolution in Motion; a book that goes a long ways to set Cuba in a logical perspective, something not often seen in our media. Saney will be in Santa Cruz in two appearances on Wednesday, October 27 to talk about Cuban-USA relations. At 5pm he'll be in UCSC's Stevenson College Fireside Lounge talking about how Cuba is dealing with their racism problem. At 7pm Saney will be at the Rio Theatre's new Next Door space (which is next door) talking about "Democracy & Governance in Cuba". Saney is a native of Trinidad-Tobago and teaches International Studies in Nova Scotia. So he knows his stuff. Call 465-8272 for more information.
COWELL'S AND THE NEW MILLENIUM. This film by Pat Farley is a history of surfing in Santa Cruz way back in the 30's. It will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival, The New York Film Festival and more places. Farley took over four years to make this film and it has been wowing (or whatever surfers say), at every screening. This screening will be 7:30 p.m. at the Rio Theatre, Friday October 29. It's a benefit for the O'Neill Sea Odyssey the ocean ecology program for youths at the Santa Cruz Harbor. Tickets at O'Neill's Surf Shops on 41st, and the new O'Neill's downtown on Pacific and Cooper where the Cooper House used to be.
LARGE QUOTA OF QUOTES. I'm adding many quotes, these are political and very scary times, and the quotes might help a little. "Whenever a fellow tells me he's bipartisan, I know he's going to vote against me." -Harry S. Truman. "If two men agree on everything, you may be sure one of them is doing the thinking." -Lyndon B Johnson. "When smashing monuments, save the pedestals, they always come in handy." -Stanislaw Lec. "Even a little dog can piss on a big building." -Jim Hightower. "Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." -Napoleon Bonaparte. "In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant." -Charles de Gaulle.
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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BACK IN LOS ANGELES. My daughter Jennifer (former Santa Cruzan) just had another son, Leonardo David Boulanger. He was 8 lbs.14 ounces and 22 inches tall as of Wednesday October 6, at 1 p.m. and everybody is doing fine. Except that I've been in LA for a week now. That means that I haven't been able to receive any emails, so that's why I haven't responded. One guilty pleasure when I return to LA is reading the LA Times. I've read the last seven issues thoroughly. There's a lot of material I'm guessing that the Santa Cruz Sentinel didn't report and that I'm passing on right now.
TOM LEHRER NEWS. Sunday Oct. 3 issue of the LA Times had a fine photo of Tom at his piano and a letter from a reader taking the Times to task for not mentioning Tom's song about Gustav Mahler's wife, Alma in a recent article about this wild woman. Alma Mahler was attracted to "husbands of genius" and married Franz Werfel, Walter Gropius, and Gustav Mahler. Lehrer's song went…"Alma, tell us! All modern women are jealous, you should have a statue in bronze, for bagging Gustav and Walter and Franz". Lehrer lyrics will obviously live on forever.
WALT DISNEY NEWS. The new unorthodox $3 million pipe organ was unveiled in LA's Disney Hall last weekend. It has 6,134 pipes and looks like either a pile of French fries or gigantic pick-up sticks. From the reviews it is a huge success. The longest pipe is as tall as a telephone pole and the shortest pipe is as short and as thin as a small pencil. The local angle is that Diane Disney Miller, who I think lives in our County, just gave $25 million to the LA Philharmonic, one of the major attractions in the Disney Hall. And that was a fine gesture.
FREE RADIO SANTA CRUZ. The LA Times did indeed carry the story "Tiny Pirate Radio Station Shut Down" in their Sunday Oct.3 issue. It was two columns wide and 16 inches long. Not badly written, it told about the Santa Cruz police not helping in the raid, and how the station's web cast was up and "running its maverick and irreverent commentary" by the following weekend.
U.C. EMPLOYEES SUPPORT KERRY BY BIG MARGIN. Again, from the LA Times Thursday, October 7 issue. The opening paragraph in this piece by staff writers Rebecca Trounsen and Doug Smith reads: "University of California employees have given more than nine times as much money to the presidential candidates this year as they did in 2000 with 95% going to Sen. John F. Kerry." I'm a bit jaded but I'll bet The Sentinel didn't carry this story either, I'll check later. UC Employee donations to Kerry have outpaced Bloodthirsty Bush by more than 6 to 1 according to campaign records. Kerry has received $4.6 million from faculty and staff Bloodthirsty Bush got only $740,000. Employees across the country have contributed far more to the current campaigns when B.T. Bush and Gore together collected only $850,000 total from UC campuses. The article goes on to say, "Donors from the University of California have given more to Kerry's presidential bid than any other group of employees at a company or institution nationwide". More than two thirds of the donors said they were faculty members, the rest were staff researchers and administrators. UC has about 160,000 employees in case you lost count. In Texas, Kerry received $67,000 from the University of Texas employees while local boy B.T. Bush received only $49,000 (hee,hee).
CHE GUEVARA'S DEATH SITE SEEKING TOURISTS. Che Guevara occupies a special place in many Santa Cruzan's hearts. The LA Times (Friday October 8) reports that the town of La Higuera, Bolivia where Che was killed is working hard to make the site a tourist attraction. "Guevara was killed in this isolated hamlet 37 years ago after his band of two dozen warriors was surrounded by the Bolivian army, having failed in his dream of launching a continent-wide revolution. La Higuera is the last and best-known stop on the so-called Che Trail (La Ruta Che). Che was 39 when he was killed in October 1967. It's an interesting, well-written story; you can probably get it by looking for "Column One Following in Che's Footsteps" by Staff writer Hector Tobar at www.latimes.com.
SHARK TALE. Next oldest grandson George (age 4) and I went to see DreamWorks's newest film, Shark Tale. On the plus side, it does have voices by Will Smith, Robert DeNiro, Renee Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, and Martin Scorsese. On the minus side, you can't recognize any of those voices other than De Niro's, and Smith's. The plot such as it is, is so trite and condescending as to be worthless. The music is worse than that, and George didn't like it any more than I did.
SATYAJIT RAY: FILM ART. UCSC has an enormous collection of films by legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray (pronounced wry). They never show them locally. They do loan them out to other campii, but not here. They'll be showing one of Ray's finer films The Music Room on Sunday October 17 at 3p.m. in the UCSC Music Center Recital Hall. Right after that there'll be a lecture by Professor Nazir Jairazbhoy same place, then immediately following that lecture there'll be an Indian Classical Vocal recital by Purinma Chaudhuri from Calcutta that'll start around 6:30. In the Main Gallery of the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery there'll be posters, costume designs and storyboards from Ray's (wry) films call 459-2953 for information.
A UCSC EVENING MATINEE. UCSC's Music department presents wonderful concerts featuring their music faculty. Tickets are affordable and the concerts are all held in their excellent Music Center Recital Hall. The first concert of this season is "An Evening with Stephen Drury". It'll be Sunday October 24 at 3 p.m. He'll play works by Charles Ives and Gyorgy Ligeti. The Boston Globe named pianist Stephen Drury 1989 Musician of the Year. Tickets at the UCSC Ticket Office (831) 459-2159 or go to events.ucsc.edu/tickets
(A REPEATED ITEM. (Every time I'm in LA, I'm impressed by their restaurant inspections. I wrote the next paragraph the last time I was in LA, and I will always believe it's a great idea.)
POSTED RESTAURANT HEALTH RATINGS. Every restaurant in LuLu land (County of Los Angeles) has their cleanliness rating A, B, C, and D whatever, posted in their front window by law. The Department of Health Services Environmental Health Branch inspects all restaurants in the County. When you go out to eat there's a large letter (usually A) posted in their front window. That means the establishment was 90-100% clean at the time of inspection. My Los Angeles daughter tells me that you can go online and find out the exact percent and see specifically why they didn't do better. Rodents, mites, etc. If we did that, and I know budget, budget, blah, blah. But if we did that in Santa Cruz County each restaurant would pay an annual fee of say $200 for their health rating. We would have an inspector who would work only on these ratings. Part time or full time (as affordable) and as available. We would then know where to eat. I used to bring this up when I wrote for those hard copy newspapers and of course restaurant advertisers would call in and make all kinds of contaminating remarks. But I still think it's a healthy idea, especially in Santa Cruz County.
QUOTES WITH NO QUALMS. "My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly a difference." -Harry S. Truman. The following two should be applied locally. "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." -Plato. "The mistake a lot of politicians make is in forgetting they've been appointed and thinking they've been anointed." -Claude D. Pepper.
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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AND YOU SCOTT KENNEDY ARE NO PROGRESSIVE! In spite of his terrible voting record of being against every issue that Santa Cruz Progressives support, Scott Kennedy continues to label himself a progressive. SCAN hasn't supported Kennedy in years and didn't after this last Candidate Forum. Now five, that's five, progressive organizations have unanimously come out against Scott Kennedy and endorsed four other candidates. These candidate's names will appear on the Santa Cruz Progressive Coalition door hanger that will be broadly distributed in Santa Cruz and mid county. The People's Democratic Club, The Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, The Santa Cruz Action Network (SCAN), The GLBT Alliance(Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) and SEIU Local 415 unanimously made the four endorsements. They are Emily Reilly, Ed Porter, Tony Madrigal and Ryan Coonerty.
CHE GUEVARA, TWO FILMS. Motorcycle Diaries, the new film at the Nick, is a dramatic version of the real eight month motorcycle trip young Che Guevara took around South America in 1952. Walter Salles, who directed Central Station, created a new way of making this film seem like a documentary, yet getting across the very real transformation that Che went through on this trip to become the nearly legendary revolutionary inspiration that changed CUBA forever. The Cuba Study group of Santa Cruz is presenting another in their Cruzin' Cuba film series. This is the A&E networks' Biography:Che Guevara-Restless. It details Che's trips to Africa, Guatemala and Bolivia where he was executed at the age of 39. The film will be shown Thursday, October 21 at the Live Oak Grange, 1900 17th avenue near Capitola Road. I'm guessing that it starts at 7p.m. but call 465-8272 to check up on it.
POLITICAL PLUG. Bernard "Barney" Bricmont is running for the Live Oak School Board. I've known him for over 20 years and he's dedicated, experienced and caring and you should vote for him on November 2. Check out his website at www.bricmont.us or you can reach him at bricmont@cruzio.com.
FREE RADIO PROBLEMS. Damned tricky of the FCC to raid our free radio station this close to elections. If you want to help the station get back on the air and replace their equipment send checks to FRSC, Box 7507, Santa Cruz, CA 95061
RE-DEFEAT BUSH. Kathy Bisbee emails this to us:
"Building community and political awareness, 18 Bay Area residents, and 4 Santa Cruz activists chartered the Green Tortoise on the weekend of September 17-21 and drove to Flagstaff, Arizona for three days of registering 150 new voters, urging Northern Arizona University students to vote for Kerry and registering 500 Democratic voters to vote by mail.
17 additional Santa Cruzans involved with the Re-Defeat Bush campaign traveled there the same weekend by van, having an equally impacting weekend! Several other trips to AZ, OR and Reno, NV are planned for this month, and weekly phone banks in five Bay area locations are being coordinated by the Re-defeat Bush volunteer campaign, a non-partisan organization. In Santa Cruz, we are phoning swing state voters from a downtown Santa Cruz location with 25 phones every Monday night until the election, from 6-9 pm.
Kathy Bisbee is coordinating volunteers for this effort. Please email vote@keepsantacruzweird.com to volunteer for the phone banks or to make a donation to help cover the costs to call nearby swing states, NV, AZ and OR."
PACIFIC RIM FILM FEST. This is one more of those uniquely Santa Cruz events. 15 years of screening films from our Pacific neighbors and for free. There will be 11 films shown at 19 screenings around the County. George Ow of Ow family properties has been the sponsor all these years. Morton Marcus author, poet and film critic is the hard working panjandrum behind this spectacular event. Go to www.pacrimfilmfestival.org to get the many details of all the films, panels and parties.
WHAT'S WITH BALTIMORE? For the last few seasons we've been watching The Wire on HBO which show us the really seamy drug ghetto side of Baltimore. Long before that though, John Waters has been setting all of his films ridiculing most of American culture (see A Dirty Shame) all set in Baltimore. Now we've got Ladder 49, with Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta getting all hot and bothered in Baltimore blazes. Ladder 49 isn't much of a film. It's predictable, melodramatic and even though Phoenix and Travolta are fun to watch the movie is just another Hollywood product.
HEAD IN THE CLOUDS. Charlize Theron and Penelope Cruz act like paper doll models in this muck of a film. There isn't an original line or scene in it, and you'll leave (IF you enter) wondering what the living hell that was all about. It is a collection of World War 2 scenes, poorly stitched together. Maybe it was an excuse to show that Charlize Theron got beautiful again after her big role in Monster. Don't go.
SHAUN OF THE DEAD. This is a very British takeoff on all the walking dead films. Some dialect/dialogue is hard to catch but if you've seen more than one Dawn of the Dead film, this one will have you laughing hard. One film site blog room I went to revealed that many of the walking zombies are famous British comics that we can't recognize, but the Brits roll on the floor seeing these favorites. Whatever.
THREE CHEERS FOR GLBT ALLIANCE. You have to admit that getting that Capleton reggae show cancelled at the Catalyst was a major accomplishment for the Diversity Center and the GLBT Alliance. Rumors fly constantly about the new San Jose Catalyst owners, but in this case they listened to the people and did the right thing.
NON QUOTIDIAN QUOTES. "They think that whenever anyone in the Whitehouse now tells a lie I get a royalty." -Richard Nixon. "Charles de Gaulle looked like a female llama surprised in her bath." -Winston Churchill. This one is dated but apropos "The secret service is under orders that if Bush is shot, to shoot Quayle." -John Kerry.
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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